A general close to ousted strongman Blaise Compaore took the lead in a Burkina Faso coup Thursday and promised elections would be held "soon", as the death toll from gunshots fired at protesters rose to three.

The latest unrest hit the landlocked west African nation just weeks ahead of presidential and legislative elections slated for October 11 -- the country's first since veteran leader Compaore was forced out last year.

At least one person died and scores more were injured Thursday in protests in Burkina Faso after a coup led by a close ally of toppled strongman Blaise Compaore.

The latest unrest to hit the west African nation came just weeks ahead of presidential and legislative elections, slated for October 11, aimed at restoring democracy after Compaore was forced out late last year, ending 27 years of iron-fisted rule. 

An air and sea search was going on Sunday for a medical evacuation plane carrying seven people, including a French patient, which went down off the coast of Senegal.

The twin-engine aircraft flying from Burkina Faso to Dakar disappeared from radars shortly after 7 pm (1900 GMT) on Saturday over the Atlantic, 111 kilometers west of the the Senegalese capital, Senegal's civil aviation authority Anacim said in a statement.

A serious clash between Burkina Faso's presidential guard and the prime minister has left the west African nation on a political tightrope three months ahead of a key presidential election.

"I shall have done all I can to keep the peace in our country," interim President Michel Kafando recently declared, but he acknowledged being powerless to resolve confrontation.

Two French special forces soldiers accused of sexually abusing children in Burkina Faso returned home Thursday and have been taken into custody, said a legal source.

The men, accused of sexually assaulting two girls aged three and five at a hotel swimming pool, were repatriated after being questioned by French and Burkinabe military police in the capital Ouagadougou.

Two French soldiers have been suspended over child sex allegations in the west African country of Burkina Faso, France's defense ministry said Tuesday.

After he was informed about the allegations, Defense Minister Jean-Yves le Drian had "immediately alerted the competent judicial authorities," it said, adding that a "probe has been launched by the Chief of Army Staff."

Rwanda's Green Party, the country's tiny but main opposition, said Thursday it was challenging moves to change the constitution to allow strongman and President Paul Kagame to stand for a third consecutive term in elections in 2017.

"We submitted a lawsuit to the Supreme Court yesterday, demanding the court block parliament from any future plans to reform the constitution, especially article 101 about the lifting of presidential term limit," party president Frank Habineza told AFP.

The remains of Burkina Faso's slain former president Thomas Sankara and 12 of his colleagues who were assassinated during a coup d'etat in 1987 began to be exhumed on Monday.

Sankara was a popular Marxist army captain who came to power in a 1983 coup and transformed what was then the former French colony of Upper Volta into Burkina Faso.

The remains of slain former president Thomas Sankara and 12 of his colleagues who were assassinated during a coup d'etat in 1987 will be exhumed Monday, a judicial source said Sunday.

Thomas Sankara was a popular Marxist army captain who came to power in a 1983 coup and transformed what was then the former French colony of Upper Volta into Burkina Faso.

The head of one of Burkina Faso's largest banks has been arrested on suspicion of having embezzled billions CFA francs, a source close to the investigation said Friday. 

"The director general of the Banque de l'Habitat du Burkina Faso (BHBF), Pierre Zerbo, was arrested yesterday and remanded in custody today (Friday)," the security source told Agence France Presse.